ENGLISH NOBLE FAMILIES, AND HOW THEY BECAME RICH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 210, 9 October 1909, Page 3

ENGLISH NOBLE FAMILIES, AND HOW THEY BECAME RICH.

THE DUKE OF WESTMIXSi'EU. in incident which furnishes a striking illustration «,i il» enhanced value of.Ue Di.ke of Westminster's London property was recently recalled by Mr. Liln.-i oi"e in his Limehouse speech, lhc Chancellor of the Exchequer stated In'u wtien ill". Uorringe, the well-know 11 West Kud draper, wanted the lease ut lU.. property he occupied renewed, tn'J Duke would only do so on condition that £4OOO a year was paid for ground rent, instead of the few hundreds as hkherto. Furthermore, Jlr. Uorriiigc was obliged to 6pend a large amount oa the erection of new premises and pay a. line of £50,000. This lease, however, is but one »t many on the Duke of Wetsminster's property in Mayfuir which have fallen in of lat& years, and which have been reurwetf at enormous premiums. As a maWer of fact, at the end of thirty the whole of the leases on the M-J acres which the Duke owns in this aristocratic of London will have faiUn in, and his present income, estimate,! a, close upon £200,000 a year, will have

increased fivefold. I It is difficult to realise that this l:uul,| > on which some of London's finest li<m-« s , are erected—some of them range in pr.v« from 0000 guineas to 20,000 giuik;is-~ was worthless marsh when wu* Dn ,- s ancestors acquired it a couple of c -n----turies ago. Nevertheless such was the case, laiis of it were drained, and the land let on long leases at low r ents. It is doubllul if the Grosvcnor of that day ever dreamt for one moment that his marshy land would develop into the most fashionable quarter of London. Society in course of time, migrated there, and thus Belgravia became the centre of wealth, luxury, and fashion, and helped to swell the wealth of the landowners.

It is chiefly by fortunate marriages T that the Grosvenor family has become one of the richest in the country. 11"' 30,000 acres which the Duke owns in Cheshire came into the family in the reign of Henry VI. by reason of iV ' marriage of Raufe de Grosvenor Ijl the only daughter and heiress of du!.n Eaton, lord of the manor of Eaton, from which the magnificent modern country seat of the Westminsters—Eaton Hall which has cost a million to build, tar. •< its name. For the origin of the Grosven 'i wealth, however, one must go back 1 - centuries, when Hugh Lupus, who w ■ - head huntsman, or Gros Venour (hen ■■ the name), to William tin; Coiiqueit :. performed such valiant deeds at the Gmuuest that the Norman Duke made lr:ti Earl of Chester and richly rewarded nun with lands in the North. Lupus died .. -Benedictine monk, and. since then us story of the family has oecu one of continued prosperity. It was Sir Thomas Crosvenor, w.io died in 1700, and sat at one time as M.i". for Chester, who brought the Lond-in estate into the family by leading to Uo altar Mary Davis, the daughter of Al-. ander Davie, who first owncjl the mars iv laud on which Belgravia now stands. Quite a romance of commerce is t:; ■ manner in which th&latter obtained su'ficicnt money to buy the land wlu.'h ultimately came into the Grosvenor family. His uncle, a man named Hugh Audley, saved a. considerable sum of ' rnonev out of the profits of money-lend-ing. Being left part of his fortuHe, Alexander established a dairy business, and bought five [.nature fields of about 420 acres on the land now known as South Belgravia. It was "his daughter Jlaiv whom Sir Thomas Grosvenor married, and thus brought into the family the land which comprises to-day the mori valuable of London's estates. This marriage was followed by other Grosvenor alliances, the majority of which added - acres and rents to the swelling wealth of the family. And rs they acquired riches, eo they made shrewd purchases of further property, which increased iu value as they calmly looked on. A nephew of the first Earl GrosvenoI*, 1 *, who died just over a hundred years ag '. made a lucky marriage with an heiri s who owned many thousands of acres in Dorsetshire, and the cycle of successful marriages can he traced right down to the present members of the family. The present Duke of Westminster sue reeded hie grandfather ten years ago. and the tatter's many sisters were nearly ah the wives of men of high rank. Among them were the Duchess of Xortu* umberland, the Countess of Macclcsfiel I, Lady Wenlock, Lady Leigh, and Lady * Octavia Shaw-Stewart, while his dauga. ters—the aunts of the present Duke—are the Marchioness of Ormonde. Lady Chesham, the Duchess of Teek, and Ladv > Mary V. Crichton. No wonder the Gn>venors are very jealous of admitting to their acquaintance anyone who by birl a and breeding docs not belong to their privileged circle! —Home paper.